


Home Sweet Home

by overkill_max



Category: A Country Called Home (2015)
Genre: Canon Continuation, F/M, Slow Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-26
Updated: 2019-11-26
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:55:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21572587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/overkill_max/pseuds/overkill_max
Summary: Just a small character study of Ellie and Reno during the movie and a bit of wishful thinking about what happens once they get to LA.
Relationships: Ellie/Reno
Comments: 17
Kudos: 45





	Home Sweet Home

**Author's Note:**

> As someone from a shitty small town that everyone ran from, I felt this movie in my bones and had to write about it.

//

**_Home_ **

//

Ellie travels back home with a feeling of dread already setting in.

She hated growing up in that place, it was always a fishbowl. Everybody always knew your business and they rejoiced in treating you as such.

Some pretended they were concerned when they cornered you at the store and spoke loudly about how things were going badly for your family. But even when she was a kid, she knew it wasn’t concern at all.

It was hidden glee.

//

Once her mama died, Ellie had tried to live with her father, but it was never the same.

So, she ran as far as the first bus out of town could take her.

If it had been able to float, she would have carried on moving past LA until she could no longer dream about Texas.

//

Years later she feels the same urge to run as soon as she lands but she stays. At first because she understands how destructive alcohol had been to her family and sees history repeating with a sweet woman that was too far gone into the bottle to hold down a job or even take care of her grandson.

And then, even though she doesn’t admit it quite yet, she stays because of one man who she doesn’t want to see fall down the same path everyone else had in this dead-end town.

//

**_Reno_ **

//

Reno’s song had spoken to her in a way that nothing had in a while. Heading somewhere else, leaving this rotten place behind. It was what had taken her away the first time. Except she didn’t have any dreams, just the urge to run.

Then some asshole tossed a bottle.

//

It turned out to be the best thing to have happened to both of them.

//

Ellie got to talk to Reno, who was charming and confident and nervous and just so full of life the way nobody else seems to be.

It’s like the whole town is drowning in a haze of booze and Reno is the only one not yet dulled.

//

**_Brenda_ **

//

They steal two more beers before heading to a private concert.

Just Reno, his guitar, his momma and Ellie.

//

It’s sweet, the way he admits he comes here every day to sing to her.

The only time she had been able to visit her father was when he was already dead, and she can’t imagine the toll it takes on a person to see a parent here when they are in contact. It was hard enough being estranged and there.

Though Reno makes it sound like they don’t get along that well anyway.

He’s still here though, still caring.

//

**_Lost_ **

//

Ellie is lost.

Which is laughable because the town only has one dairy queen and a bar.

She is lost and the people here remind her that she doesn’t have a monopoly on hating her father. The people here remind her that he was just as drunk and pathetic as she left him.

It still hurts to hear it directed towards her thought. She didn’t live in this town. She just happens to be related to him.

//

Reno finds her and it feels like it’s the first time she can smile.

//

He seems to sense her distress but doesn’t really address it directly. He makes her laugh at the funeral home, making jokes about the urns and meeting her eyes whenever they laugh at the absurdity of this whole place.

Even though she just met him, his presence is calming. Ellie no longer feels like she’s sinking. She feels confused and stressed out, but she can handle this. She can order the black urn; she can get a photo and have the funeral.

//

**_Boxes_ **

//

She hates how the man behind the counter is shifting from foot to foot. Nervous. Asking her if she is going to buy up all his boxes. Never meeting her eyes.

Then he mentions Reno and Ellie is pissed. He can be wherever the fuck he wants.

He calls Reno by the wrong gender and Ellie overlooks it, hoping that if she doesn’t engage in his bigotry, she can just get the boxes and go.

Reno, already used to this, asks that they leave. He doesn’t want to fight. Doesn’t need another bottle thrown his way. Even if it’s just metaphorical this time.

He mentions her father and Ellie loses it. Throwing down the boxes and stepping all over them. Making sure they each have a footprint. Even while Reno is trying to drag her away, she is shouting and telling the asshole behind the counter that he can keep his fucking boxes. Choke on them for all she cares. Die as king of box world and hopefully just get buried in one. She steps all over his precious floor, sad she can’t kick up more than a little dirt.

Reno keeps putting his body between hers and the merchant’s, gently pushing her back until she’s through the door.

//

She walks after Reno, who is doing that stupidly endearing thing where he rearranges his hair. Showing that he’s nervous.

//

Reno, as always, find the solution to her box problem. They get some boxes from behind the grocery store and Ellie is relieved that she’s not doing this whole thing alone.

//

**_Suit_ **

//

Tommy is fascinated by Reno as soon as they step into the house. He follows them into her father’s room and begins jumping on the bed.

He is just a ball of energy and Ellie doesn’t remember ever feeling that free.

Reno gets to work, emptying the closet onto the bed.

The first item there is a dark blue suit and he gets this look on his face. Almost like longing, as he stares at it. It takes him a couple of breaths before he sets it down and Ellie tries to act casual about her offer while watching him carefully.

“Do you… do you think that maybe you’d like to keep some of this stuff? I think… I think the suit would look good on you… it would bring out your eyes.” She tells him, pretending to look at the suit that’s on the bed while looking at his face from the corner of her eyes.

Reno blushes and doesn’t answer right away.

“I know he has some ugly pants and stuff.” Ellie states as she pulls out yellow plaid pants and laughs. “But I think you can make this stuff work, even if it’s ugly.”

Reno takes off his hat and plays with his hair. Tommy is jumping up and giggling.

“Are you sure? It wouldn’t be weird or nothing?” He asks.

Ellie rolls her eyes. “It’s not weird and I’d like for you to wear a nice suit… I mean, if you can come to the funeral. I don’t think I can do this alone and having you there looking handsome in this would definitely help.” She blushes because she didn’t mean to say the last part at all. Not that she hadn’t thought about it, but she just didn’t want to make this worse because maybe Reno didn’t want the suit at all, and she misread him.

Reno smiles as he grabs the suit. “No, not at all, I just feel bad because these are some pretty fly threads and I’m not making much at the bar yet…”

“Well why don’t you try the suit on first, and then you can decide what stuff you want and what stuff you don’t want. Free of charge until you get your first hit song. Then I will decide how many thousands of dollars this is really worth.”

Reno laughs and heads towards the closet.

//

**_Soccer_ **

//

After being rude in the bedroom to her friend, Amanda comes to the garage to complain about having to take Tommy to soccer practice. Asking him to hurry up and get changed.

Reno looks worried and he signals that she’s been drinking.

Ellie offers to take him to soccer practice and Amanda easily agrees.

Ellie turns around and places her palm on Reno’s stomach. “Please come with me. I don’t know anything about soccer.” She begs.

Reno laughs. She can feel it against her hand. “And you think I do?”

She winces as she answers. “Is it sexist of me if I say yes?”

Reno’s whole-body shakes as he laughs at her answer. “So, your answer is just because I’m a guy I know about sports?”

Ellie feels her whole face burning. Her eyes are still closed. “Pretty much, yeah.”

//

Reno does come to the soccer game with her and it feels like a victory.

Even though he refuses to explain to Ellie what any of it means. She pushes his arm playfully and tells him he’s the worst. She doesn’t mean it. Not one bit.

//

While Reno is out getting some water from the coach, Jack, Tommy’s father, shows up.

He talks to her about soccer and laughs at her for not knowing anything about it.

It’s nice, but she’s distracted by Reno winking at her as he holds the two water bottles triumphantly. She laughs and shakes her head.

//

Reno opens the water bottle for her and bows. Ellie laughs and tries to push him off balance. He smiles from under his hat and laughs but doesn’t budge.

It’s a beautiful day and the last thing on her mind is soccer.

//

**_Blues_ **

//

She goes to the bar again. Ellie doesn’t even drink that night. She just feels drawn to it.

Reno sings about having the blues with his sweet and melodious voice and she smiles. Thinking that maybe this town isn’t bad after all.

//

**_Blizzard_ **

//

Ellie is driving around town when she spots Reno. He’s pretty hard to miss with his red pants, yellow shirt and cowboy hat perched perfectly on his head.

She parks near him, but he doesn’t notice her until she greets him.

It’s his mom. The hospital called and Ellie doesn’t need to hear the rest of the story before she’s telling him to get in the car.

//

Once there, Reno’s concern comes off him in waves. He still tries to make a joke about starting a search party but there are tears in his eyes and he’s running his hands through his hair. Not understanding how his mom could get up and walk away from the hospital after being in a coma for almost a week.

//

They go looking for her and find her at the Dairy Queen.

Reno confesses that his mom is eating herself to death. That it gives him nightmares. Where he can’t stop feeding his mom. Making her sicker. Stuck and unable to leave.

Ellie knows that feeling.

She understands the nightmare. Her father was like that. With the drinking and the violence.

//

They go inside and Reno is so patient, trying to make his mother understand that the diabetic coma she was in was serious. But he gets brushed off.

His mom gets herself a blizzard for the road and Reno has the saddest eyes, watching her go eat something he knows she shouldn’t, but he can’t say no to her.

//

**_Songs_ **

//

Reno is standing in the living room in his underwear. Nervous hands playing with each other as he asks his mom to make the pants tight, the way he likes them. Ellie thinks it’s cute, how he’s hovering. Concern etched on his face along with excitement.

He tells his mom how she told him he should record some of the songs he has, and his mom laughs and dismisses him.

Reno’s shoulders slump and he looks crushed.

Ellie doesn’t want him to think he’s not good enough when his songs, they mean something to her, so she speaks up and tells him that they’re too good to keep locked up. He should share them with the world.

Reno laughs in that watery way that tells Ellie he’s sad. He shrugs and tells her he’s never leaving this place. Staring at his mom.

She hates this. Knows the feeling of being rooted to one spot because of family. Her mom was her anchor and then she died because her father was a mean drunk that couldn’t admit he was too shit faced to drive.

//

**_Guitar_ **

//

Ellie comes back mad. Then, she sees her father’s workshop and thinks that she won’t go down without a fight. She may have been a coward when it came to her dreams about design school, but she won’t let Reno let go of his.

She finishes a beautiful guitar, strings it, and thinks of Reno. There’s a rose on the headstock, drawn and painted by her.

//

**_Funeral_ **

//

Roger, a man that claims to be her father’s best friend for the past 50 years is drunk and belligerent and Ellie is so upset. He speaks as if he knows her dad when she doesn’t know who this man is because they moved around so much due to her father’s drinking and inability to hold down a job.

If this man claims to be his best friend, then Ellie is daughter of the year.

Even then she tries to calm him down. Up until he insults Reno, calling him a freak, among other things. Ellie pushes him and tries to physically throw him out of the building but he’s staggering drunk and he falls on top of her.

Reno tries to help but he gets knocked back into a flowerpot and there is so much blood coming down his face.

Amanda hits Roger with a chair and the funeral goes back to normal. Or as normal as can be when Ellie is holding onto Reno’s face, pressing napkins to his head and her grandma is on the other side of him, looking worried.

//

**_Hospital_ **

//

She’s not family so she can’t be in the room while they work on Reno, but she hangs around, waiting for him.

He comes outside and seems surprised to see her there. He waves her off, telling Ellie that he’ll need stitches and the doctor is still not here yet. Plus, he wants to go home to check on his momma.

Ellie leaves, after a bit of coaxing, and makes Reno promise her he will see her off tomorrow. Even though she doesn’t want to leave, she feels like she has to, before this town sucks her back in.

//

**_Birdfeeders_ **

//

They leave the airport and go through the town, stopping in people’s houses to steal birdfeeders and she is having so much fun being on Reno’s shoulders and laughing at how absurd this whole thing is.

They steal 12 in total and break into the box store.

Reno fills up the bird feeders and lets Ellie go wild. She scatters bird seed everywhere, in a shower that goes all over the floor and she is laughing and spinning and feeling free.

She can’t believe people can feel this wild while being sober.

//

**_Los Angeles_ **

//

They buy the cheapest bottle of booze at the gas station and watch the store. The doors are wide open, but nothing is happening yet.

Ellie laughs and tells Reno that she doesn’t think she’ll make her flight; it leaves in 10 minutes and she is too drunk and happy to move from this spot.

They talk about Reno’s fear of flying after she tells him he should come to LA. The he needs to get out of this place. Ellie knows she can’t save anyone, but she wants Reno to run away with her. To get as far from this place as possible before he becomes a broken shell of a man, the way her father was, and Roger and pretty much every guy except her grandfather.

If you stay here long enough you either die broken and drowning in alcohol or you die old and alone, after everyone you loved drank themselves into an early grave.

//

**_Key_ **

//

She drives off laughing and feeling wild. Running a red light because the cops are near.

Once Reno gets out, she feels sad, she doesn’t want to leave but she doesn’t know if she can stay.

He walks off and comes back, telling her that the key she has is to a bank. One of those safety deposit boxes.

She thanks him and drives towards the only bank in town. Wondering what could be so precious that he didn’t keep it in the house. That he didn’t drink it away.

//

**_Near Kiss_ **

//

She’s with her grandfather, waiting to hear about how she’s doing, and they talk about prayer.

Once she’s ready, her grandfather leaves and Jack swoops in. He takes her hand and leans in, she does too but she stops. Her heart is not in it. She wants to kiss a man, just not this one.

Jack takes the rejection surprisingly well and she’s glad. They talk about LA and why she wants to go back, he seems to think there is nothing there now that she has no boyfriend to go back to. As if her dreams are not enough and she looks away, thinking of Reno who hasn’t heard about her dreams yet but would probably support her wanting to apply to a stupid job she was unqualified for but wanted anyway.

//

**_Walk to where?_ **

//

She heads to her car and there’s a man leaning against it, in his tight pants, fancy cowboy shirt and white hat. There are bags scattered around him and the unmistakable black case he always carries with him, along with a newer looking case. The guitar she made for him.

It makes Ellie smile.

He asks about where he would stay, if he came to Los Angeles and Ellie smiles. Admits that he would stay with her.

The only thing is that they won’t be able to fly there.

Ellie laughs, it’s not like they can walk there.

As always, Reno finds the solution. The car where she took all those shitty road trips as a kid. The one that never quite ran right. It’s fixed and reliable now. They can go to LA and even though Ellie has a car there, Reno doesn’t, and she thinks it’s actually perfect.

//

**_Driving_ **

//

Texas is massive and sprawling and green in ways Ellie didn’t remember. She guesses it’s because they always had to get out of town in the dark. Once her father had sold enough of her things they packed up what was left in the middle of the night, with the lights off so as to not let the landlord know they were leaving without paying months of rent, and they would bolt.

The radio cuts off in the middle of some country song and Reno starts singing about how beautiful the open road is and Ellie laughs. The wind is in her hair and she is so happy in this moment. 

//

**_Roommates_ **

//

They get home and her roommate is there, ready to complain about how Ellie’s ex-boyfriend wouldn’t leave her alone.

Ellie rolls her eyes and tells her that he probably wants a place to stay because he can’t afford his rent. His penchant for gambling always turned into a big blown up thing when he got kicked out of apartments.

She still can’t believe she stayed together with him for a year.

Ellie introduces Reno to her roommate who doesn’t look very impressed.

“Well, I hope it’s a short visit because we don’t have a lot of room here.”

Ellie nods and her roommate narrows her eyes. Not liking where this was going but not willing to dig her own grave.

Reno laughs it off and tells her that the couch is fine, he’s not fancy, and Ellie wants to protest, to tell him that they could share a bed but it feels too domestic and she just got back from her father’s funeral and from breaking up with a guy she realizes now was a loser and didn’t care much for her. She doesn’t want to drag Reno into a relationship while he’s getting established in LA.

He deserves better than that.

//

**_Gigs_ **

//

Reno lands a job at some divey looking places that are really just tourist traps for foreigners and recent LA transplants. He fits right in with his Texas accent, swagger and guitar. He plays there a couple of nights. Gets paid in cash. But it’s more money than he’s ever had in his whole life and he’s so happy that it’s infectious.

They go out to a fancy dinner, just the two of them and she laughs at all his stupid jokes and it feels really good, to have this with him.

He asks about her job, if she’s heard about the design stuff. His face is so open and genuine that she blushes. Only her family had believed in her dreams. Had pushed her to do it. First her brother and then her grandmother.

She’s bummed out and honest about the fact that they liked her application but couldn’t offer her the job. Reno looks sad for a moment and then he lights up again.

“Fine, then let’s go to college. We can both study whatever it is that fancy, city people study. Get you that job next time. Or an even better one.”

She laughs, it sounds so absurd that it has to be a joke. She can’t afford college on her job as a glorified secretary.

Reno smiles but doesn’t take it back. Doesn’t turn it into a joke.

//

**_College_ **

//

They take a couple of classes at the community college at first. Just some gen-eds during their first semester.

It quickly turns into two and then they’re learning about stuff they’re interested in. Reno is learning about music and she learns about design.

//

It’s tight and she’s glad they never managed to kick her roommate out because they often have nothing else to eat but rice and lentils for months at a time.

//

Reno makes it seem like a fun adventure. Instead of a lesson in frugality and starvation like she hadn’t had since she was a child and her father drank away their grocery money again.

//

Reno thrives in LA and college is no different. He often finds her on campus and follows her around, serenating her as she pretends, she doesn’t know him. Even though everyone on campus knows they’re inseparable.

“You’re an evil, evil man. Won’t let me get an A on my math test.” Reno sings and Ellie laughs along with their group of friends. “Come on Ellie, sing it with me. I got an 86 and he’s evil, I swear.”

Ellie stops walking. “Reno, he’s not evil. I keep telling you that you need to join our study group but you’re too busy stealing beers from that wanna-be honky tonk you work at during weekends. That ain’t on me.”

Reno puts his hand over his heart. Pretending to be wounded.

“But you love those stolen beers.” He argues.

“I do, but I would love it more if we could graduate college together and not be broke all the time. Maybe afford a nice apartment without a third wheel, get a bigger bed where your feet don’t hang off the end.” She admits distractedly as she waves at her professor. She needs to catch him before he leaves, she has some questions about his feedback and without it she might do poorly on her presentation.

“Sure, yeah.” Reno says, playing with his hair.

“See you at home?” She asks and Reno nods. Ellie kisses him and taps his chest. “Love you, gotta go, stop stealing beers and study.” She shouts behind her as she runs after the professor.

//

**_Realizations_ **

//

It’s not until she’s driving back home, exhausted from having worked a full day on what was supposed to be her weekend that she realizes what happened.

One minute she’s stressing out about traffic on Friday nights and how she needs to get home quickly because she bought some steaks they couldn’t afford but she couldn’t wait to see Reno’s face light up when she shows him anyway and her A/C is still on the fritz so she’s afraid they may spoil before she gets to her exit. Then it hits her, how she not only admitted how she felt to Reno, she also sort of kissed him and ran away.

Chasing after Dr. Yalom to ask him questions that seemed so stupid. He was gracious and told her how to fix the design flaws for her chair, but it didn’t matter as much as screwing up everything with Reno had.

//

She makes it to the apartment after two hours of freaking out.

Traffic was light.

//

Ellie struggles with the groceries, her backpack and the books she checked out for the weekend.

She half-expects Reno to be waiting for her in the living room. Or at least pacing up and down the length of it. But he’s nowhere to be found and her nerves are on edge.

Everything is put away; she no longer feels hungry. Just dread. He’s not scheduled to go in today.

//

Ellie goes to their bedroom and he’s there. A book on his chest, his neck is craned at a weird angle and his too long feet hanging off the bed. She can feel tears at the corner of her eyes. She loves this man so much and she thought he’d be gone.

After washing her face and getting ready for bed, she feels like she can breathe again. Reno is still here. He’s here, in their bed and that means everything.

She takes the book from his hands, shoving a receipt from Reno’s nightstand to hold the place he left off in. Just like with every scrap of paper in their place, there are some lyrics written on the back of it. They’re about cornbread and iced tea. She smiles to herself, not every song he writes can win him a CMA. Sometimes you’re just hungry and broke.

She rearranges the covers before turning the lights off and getting into her side of the bed.

//

**_Breakfast_ **

//

She wakes up to an empty bed.

Her hands are reaching out to the space next to her when the door opens and there’s Reno, holding one of the trays they use for candles in between his hands. There’s steak and eggs on a plate and a glass of orange juice she knows is stolen from their roommate.

Her heart feels full in this very moment.

//

Reno doesn’t bring up the kiss or what she said and she’s grateful but oh so anxious.

Reno feels like the only home she’s ever known and she’s afraid of him not feeling the same. But she’s also certain that he does. Everything he ever does is filled with love and care and so much devotion. From the way he sends money back home to his mother, to how he always makes sure there’s something edible for them to have in the fridge.

Ellie is not much of a housewife. Having little to no food means you never know what goes well together. Reno didn’t have much growing up either, but he was lucky, his mother taught him to cook a bit. She gets them groceries because he’s hopeless inside a store and ends up getting too many snacks he saw on the TV and not much food.

It’s nice, they balance each other out that way.

They always feel like a team.

//

She’s done with breakfast and she tells him the truth.

“I’m sorry about yesterday, that’s not at all how I imagined our first kiss would be, or even how I told you what I felt for you.” Her hands are covering her face. She’s still unsure of how to let Reno know that he deserved better.

She can hear him playing with his hair. “You thought about kissing me before?”

The awe in his voice makes her look at him.

He looks so scared and vulnerable. She smiles shyly and looks down at her empty plate.

“Only since the day we met at that bar and that asshole threw a beer bottle at you.”

Reno nods, remembering how they met. How Ellie had a key to his heart from that day. Even when the physical key she held was to a bank safety deposit box.

“So why didn’t you?” He asks.

“Why didn’t I kiss you?” He nods at her question. “Because I was a mess and you deserve so much better than when I was mourning my alcoholic father or getting over my ex. I… I just thought it would be enough, to have you move out here to LA and you’d get away from that place… But it’s not enough, you’re my home now. And I was so afraid that you’d leave if I said something. Or worse, you didn’t feel the same…”

She’s scared she’s not making any sense but she doesn’t know how to tell him what it means to her, to have someone like Reno in her life. A man who wants you to be better, that wants you to pursue your dreams and makes it easy by getting up and following his too, trying to motivate you even when things are hard and scary.

She’s not like him, she can’t get up on stage and be brave, but she feels like she can take some of the bravery that pours out of him and at least borrow it for a little while. Until she feels brave…

“You know, I feel the same way.” He tells her. His hands are still for once and his face is uncharacteristically serious.

He means it.

Ellie laughs. Thrilled. She leans over and kisses him.

He loves her.

He loves her.

//

**_Graduation_ **

//

Even though it’s just their associate degree and they’re going to transfer to a 4-year university to finish their degree, they still fly their family out to see them walk the stage.

//

Reno’s mother is more haggard than when they met, the diabetes taking a toll on her without Reno to constantly hover over her. Worrying about her health.

Her grandparents also look a bit more fragile than when she met them 4 years ago. They’re excited to meet their great grandkids, her brother hadn’t visited them. Preferring to leave his father’s memory and that place behind him.

Ellie and Reno had made it home once during the holidays. But couldn’t afford to take time off or travel again.

They’d been saving for these tickets for a year.

//

They want to go out to celebrate but can only afford one of the bars Reno works at, they offer them a discount because Reno has managed to charm just about everyone there, and it feels like they’re celebrating amongst family because all the staff and even the owners come out to celebrate with them.

//

**_Loss_ **

//

Her grandmother dies and her grandfather follows her soon after.

//

She needs to be back in Texas as soon as possible.

Reno, who is terrifying of flying, borrows some pills from one of the servers. He gets them tickets and passes out against her, heavy and sweating out the nightmare of being trapped on a plane. Of it taking off.

She needs help unloading him from the plane.

//

The funeral is a blur. Reno, just like with her father, helps her through her grief through his jokes, kind eyes and relentless patience.

She feels lost but Reno reminds her that they’ve both been lost before.

//

There is no drunken shoving match at this funeral and Reno admits once it’s over that he’s sad he doesn’t get a cool new scar or two because it seems that he only gets one when someone from her family dies.

She laughs until she cries.

Ellie doesn’t want to lose him. She feels that just like her grandfather, she’d die from grief and heartbreak.

//

**_The Start_ **

//

It takes longer than the 2 years they had originally envisioned to graduate. They don’t go to school full time, can only take certain classes because those line up with work better.

They get married before they earn their degrees.

It’s a small ceremony at city hall. Just some friends. They have a frozen cake from Dairy Queen and celebrate at an Olive Garden.

Reno’s boss had offered to pay for something fancier, put up his own restaurant as a possible venue to celebrate. But they’re two small town kids at heart and it was the fanciest place that came to mind.

//

They walk the stage on the same ceremony and Ellie cries so much that her waterproof mascara runs a little.

Reno cries too but it only makes him look more handsome.

//

Her brother is crying too. He tells her he’s so very proud of her. She’s the first and only person in their family to go to college. To graduate.

“You are so much better than dad could ever deserve to have in a daughter.” He tells her when they hug.

//

This, they celebrate at one of the restaurants Reno sings at.

He’s still playing around some bars, had a couple hits online, one or two songs on a local station, but mostly he writes lyrics and produces now.

Says he likes the freedom.

Ellie knows that he’s still being held back by his mother, in a way. She always sort of laughs off the fact that he moved to LA to pursue his dream. He has a degree and he’s living his dream, he’s a musician, but she still whittles away at him whenever he calls. Thinking it not worth the effort because she’s alone.

Even then, with that weight around his neck, he’s happy.

They both are.

It’s funny now, to think back about how much she dreaded going back to Texas. How she almost got back on the plane to head back to LA. Instead she found herself. She found the courage to ask for better things. To want better for herself.

She found love.

**Author's Note:**

> This is the only straight pairing I will ever write because of how amazing Reno and Ellie were. And how much I loved this movie.


End file.
